After hosting such a wonderful start to the World Cup it is about time Brazil joined their own party. Controversy overshadowed victory over Croatia and a goalless draw against Mexico five days later was not what an expectant public had in mind. There is tension in the air. Luiz Felipe Scolari has been playing the blame game, pointing the finger at the media, and now Alan Shearer, of all people, is getting under Brazil’s skin.

“Idiotic” was the word Dani Alves used to describe Shearer’s criticism of Fred, who is in danger of becoming this team’s Serginho, the maligned Brazilian striker whose limited ability made him the scapegoat for anything and everything that went wrong on the pitch in the early 80s. “Now the ball is round again,” João Saldanha, a former Brazil manager, said rather cruelly when Serginho was substituted against New Zealand in 1982.

Shearer’s assessment of Fred was not as scathing but it was damning all the same. “I just don’t understand why Brazil are still picking him,” the former England striker said. “He doesn’t move, he doesn’t shoot and he’s dragging the team down. I don’t know if Brazil should change the system or play Neymar as a false nine but the fact is that Fred is not the answer for what they are doing now.”

It hit a nerve. Alves was furious – “These are some of the most idiotic comments that we can hear,” he said – yet, if truth be told, plenty of Brazilians would be nodding their head at the BBC pundit’s thoughts. Fred, the man who finished as joint top scorer at the Confederations Cup last year, has been peripheral bordering on invisible here.

The statistics are not kind. Fred has produced one attempt on goal in 158 minutes – a header from a corner. He completed 10 accurate passes against Croatia – a game when he made a single run into the attacking third. Only half of the 16 passes he made during his 68 minutes on the pitch against Mexico found a Brazil shirt. He has not created a chance, never mind registered an assist, and he has lost the ball 17 times in total.

There are two schools of thought here: either Fred has to be taken out of the line of fire and given a break or he needs a run-out against one of the weakest teams in this tournament in order to give him the best possible chance of getting off the mark and regaining self-belief. Scolari has decided to go with the latter.

Cameroon, Brazil’s opponents at the Estádio Nacional, have been a shambles on and off the pitch. They initially refused to board the plane to Brazil after a row over bonuses. When Volker Finke’s side did get here they were quickly eliminated after losing their first two matches and the only blows their players have landed have been on each other, after Benoît Assou-Ekotto clashed with his team-mate Benjamin Moukandjo during the humiliating 4-0 defeat against Croatia.

Brazil, who need a point to be sure of reaching the knockout stage, have been preaching caution and making Cameroon sound like a wounded animal. “We will be facing a team that comes without any responsibility,” David Luiz said. “Their players will want to show that they can do better than they did in the first two matches. A victory against the hosts would be like a title to them.” Yet it is hard to look at this fixture as anything other than the perfect chance for the Seleção to cut loose before a last-16 game against Holland or Chile.

It is not that Brazil have been terrible; they have just not looked like Brazil. Scolari is a pragmatist and times change – there is no point pining for the days when Zico, Falcao and Socrates operated on the basis that they would always be able to score one more than the opposition. At the same time it has been alarming to see so little creativity in the team and the extent to which Neymar is relied on to make things happen.

A quick history lesson tells us that Brazil have been here before. In 1958 they scored three in their first match and drew their second 0-0, as is the case now. Vicente Feola, the Brazil coach at the time, made changes. He brought a 17-year-old by the name of Edson Arantes do Nascimento into the team – otherwise known as Pelé.

Garrincha, that mercurial dribbler, was also granted a starting place. Brazil won their next four games, scored 13 goals in the process – Pelé got six of them as Garrincha wreaked havoc – and they were crowned world champions for the first time.

And there the similarities end. There is nobody remotely close to Pelé or Garrincha – a player capable of coming in and transforming the fortunes of the team – sitting on the current Brazil bench. Jô, who scored six goals in 42 largely forgettable appearances for Manchester City a few years ago, was Scolari’s go-to man when Fred was withdrawn against Mexico. The other two substitutes introduced that night were Bernard, the Shakhtar Donetsk winger, and Chelsea’s Willian – talented but not world-beaters.

There is something missing, not just up front but in the centre of midfield, where Brazil are failing to dominate games – Marcelo and Alves are far more influential on the flanks – leading to calls for Paulinho to be dropped. For those who regularly watch the Premier League, it will come as a surprise that the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder is picked in preference to Manchester City’s Fernandinho. Paulinho gets forward more than Fernandinho but he is neither attacking nor defending well at the moment.

It is, of course, still early days and two games into a World Cup is far too soon to be tipping a winner or, for that matter, writing off a team that is on the verge of reaching the last 16. Brazil, most people believe, will get better. They have a sprinkling of world-class players, a game-changer in Neymar and the weight of a nation behind them.

Some of those fans were overcome with emotion when the bus carrying the message “Brace Yourselves! The Sixth Is Coming!” pulled into the Brasilia Palace hotel just before midnight on Saturday. The public had been barred from entering the premises 12 hours earlier and exclusive guests are banned from taking photographs. Brazil are being kept well under wraps. On the pitch, however, everyone wants to see what Scolari’s players have to offer.